Egg-stremes

Yesterday afternoon I gathered eggs as usual. Our hens have not slowed down in egg production this winter. I keep an infra-red light on in their henhouses all winter for warmth. Does this affect egg production? Your guess is as good as mine.

Well, things were going along as usual, until I came upon this particular egg. This is the largest egg that I have ever found in our henhouse. I pictured it here beside our smallest egg ever.
Here it is beside the usual eggs. The white is from our fancies, and the brown is the typical size for our brown layers (by the way, the dark brown is Jumbo sized). The apple is there as a size reference.
So this huge wrinkly egg must belong to some other creature who just happened to be passing through our henhouse. Or perhaps it is the first attempt for one of my young and upcoming layers. What a way to start out! Pitty the poor gal!! It is not unusual for a new chicken to lay a few misshapen eggs as she starts out. This one, however, is most unusual!

PS. (Hubbs thought I should name this post "getting laid", but I thought not....after all this blog is family rated....or at least until now it was)

Comments

Anke said…
The egg looks huge! If it wasn't so shiny one could mistake it for a potato... Poor chicken...
Christine said…
I've been following your blog for quite some time, and I love to hear your tales from the farm! We just got rid of the chickens we had left(we couldn't get them to go in at night, and the neighbors dog and the coyotes around here were picking them off one by one), but when ours first started laying, we sure did have some odd eggs! Never had one THAT wrinkly, though! lol I had one that was barely bigger than a quarter, and our largest was bigger than my palm- I couldn't touch my finger to my thumb around it! It did have a big groove or two in it, which we decided were 'stop marks'- where the hen stopped pushing for a bit...OUCH! lol
I sure miss my fresh eggs. We've discussed getting a small flock again this spring, maybe just 6 or 12 this time. Seeing those eggs makes me miss mine!
Bee Haven Bev said…
Christine, thanks for stopping by for a visit. About getting those hens in at night.... Here is what we do: I keep them in their house for the first couple of months...with a warmer light. Once they are big enough to not be able to escape...I allow them to go into their yard for the day, but close them up at night. Then after they start to lay....that way they know to lay in their nesting boxes and not willynilly all over the farm....then I let them out to free range....but only during a portion of the day. Usually I open the door to the yard after noon....and then they go back in by nightfall. Now, there are a couple of weeks in the late spring that I cannot let them out. Those are the weeks that the mother foxes are teaching their kits to hunt. Those weeks are sure death for the chickens....so they are quarantined for their own safety.

You should take the plunge again....chickens are so much fun...and you just cannot beat the fresh eggs.
Anonymous said…
speaking of eggs...I guess it's time to pick up another dozen or two...they're the best..My sympathy to the poor gal that laid that oversized egg...As for Hubs..Tsk Tsk!!!!
Aussiemade said…
Beverly wow! My girls have not started laying yet, but if you look closely at the shell the marks are like how one would imagine the inside of their egg producing area would look, so it has been such a tight squeeze it has been embossed with these marks..
Do you have a hen that is walking funny? lol
Was it a double yolker. My chooks go in at night, and when we have to go to town we have to leave them inside. They get lots of grazing time free ranging in their huge run though.
countrynmore said…
Bev. you and my husband are alike ins ome ways. He would have wanted it titled with the same wording as your husband mentioned. This large egg has an unusual texture as well (somewhat 3 dimensional).
Sonja said…
Hi Beverly,

I've been a lurker on your website for a long time and I love it. Your post reminded me of this video I saw on youtube once about a giant chicken egg. It's really quite hilarious. I found it again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wubgAIiWpY&feature=player_embedded
-Sonja
Thanks for posting the pictures. How funny.... I enjoy our eggs as well. It is fun to see what you will collect in the boxes. My grandkids really enjoy it. I use a lamp on a timer. All the books I have read said to get your chickens to lay thru out the winter is prolong the light they receive. So far it has worked great for me. My friends who do not supplement with artificial light are getting very few eggs at this time of year and mine are still laying like they did this fall. So I am voting a BIG yes for supplemental light. I love my CHICKENS! LOL
Junebug said…
Now that is an egg! As I went out this morning to gather my eggs I was surprise to have five. Usually with only five hens I don't get that many a day. Of course my first thought was ouch! Just out here is blog land loving you site more and more! You have become addictive. June
Sandy said…
Hi Bev,
I still remember collecting eggs on my maternal great-grandmother's farm in GA as a young girl. I thought it was the greatest thing. That had to "hurt' that hen to produce such a huge egg. What a fun post!

Teacup Lane (Sandy)
Anonymous said…
I can't wait to get my ckickens. I used to raise them as a child and now I'm getting ready to do it again on my little farm.
*Ulrike* said…
Mine have started laying like crazy! One day we had 11 eggs! The new chicks though have not laid anything like yours! You have to feel sorry for the one that laid that one!!